The Sailors are seeking breakthrough
Barry Faulkner
Last year, it was all the Newport Harbor High girls basketball
team could do to snap a 20-game Sea View League losing streak on the
way to a 1-7 league finish.
This year, the Sailors (9-6), who have already doubled last year’s
win total (four), are bidding to earn one of the league’s three
guaranteed berths into the CIF Southern Section Playoffs.
The Tars, who have not been to the CIF Playoffs since 1999, begin
their quest tonight at 7 against visiting Foothill, a newcomer to the
Sea View League this season.
“Woodbridge has been winning the Sea View, but I think it will be
more competitive this year, with a lot of teams making a run,”
second-year Newport Harbor Coach Jen Thompson said.
Woodbridge (9-4), ranked No. 10 in Orange County, is again the
clear-cut favorite. But Thompson believes the Sailors can emerge from
a chase pack that figures to include Laguna Hills, Foothill and Aliso
Niguel. Irvine is expected to fall to the bottom of the standings.
Thompson’s preseason picks had Foothill second, but the Knights
have already lost to Laguna Hills, 48-35, Dec. 21.
The Sailors, who lost their final four league games after a 46-44
home win over Aliso ended their Sea View futility in the 2000s, are
led by 5-foot-7 junior Jillianne Whitfield, a returning first-team
all-league performer averaging 12.4 points in her third varsity
season.
Senior Athena Vasquez (5.1 points per game), was a second-team
all-league pick last season, while 5-6 sophomore Vanessa Miller (7.3
ppg), 5-7 junior Victoria Swigert (6.2 ppg) and 6-0 senior Lindsey
Woller (5.1 ppg) are additional returners off a Harbor squad that
lost just one player to graduation.
Whitfield and Woller are both averaging five rebounds per game.
“Last year, I think we were happy to win some games and get a
league victory,” Thompson said. “This year, I think our kids want to
go to CIF.”
After opening with Foothill, then playing a nonleague home game
against Laguna Beach Saturday, the Sailors face Aliso Niguel
(Tuesday) and struggling Irvine (Jan. 16). They meet Laguna Hills
(Jan. 21) and Woodbridge (Jan. 23) to close out the first round of
league play.
Thompson, whose team enters league having lost four of its last
five, said starting slowly in games has been the Tars’ biggest
weakness thus far.
“We need to come out strong and be a threat,” she said.
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